What makes cities lovable? Why do we connect emotionally with some places and not others? And why does that matter? Author and consultant Peter Kageyama loves cities. Big cities, small cities, villages and small towns. He thinks he has Read more

Does NYC love you back? This new app and website tracks the loves and hates people have for the city. As was pointed out by one resident, being able to express your emotions for the city, good or bad, is important.

While in Detroit to speak at the Rust Belt to Artist Belt conference, the Detroit Regional News Hub interviewed me. The News Hub is a not for profit, grass roots news agency that is helping to bring the unheard stories about Detroit to the forefront. I sat down with Jeremiah Staes and we discussed Detroit, talent and how 719 people could change the city!

New York Times columnist David Brooks notes in his new book, The Social Animal, that human beings can take in about 12 million pieces of information a minute yet we can only be conscious of about 40. Thus he notes that so much of what we are reacting to is happening on a sub-conscious and emotional level.

Think about how we experience cities every day if only .0000033% of the experience is happening on a conscious level. Even if the conscious stuff is the more privileged in our experience, there is a dimension, a non-rational, emotional dimension, that is hugely important as well. Perhaps it is the timing of Brooks’ book and mine, but I am seeing more evidence that there is an emerging consciousness about the importance of emotional connections in everything from cities to politics to health and wellness. And that, I believe, is a very good thing.

If you've not heard Alicia Keys' soaring tribute to New York City, you need to. It's beautiful. It's a love song, really, a love song to her hometown. Keys, of course, isn't the first to write a song about a city. Not even the first one to sing about New York. Frank Sinatra told us if you could make…

What makes Palo Alto lovable and why does that matter? Come join your friends, neighbors and community members to find out and talk more about why we connect with the place where we live and the impact it can have in terms of civic participation. Internationally-acclaimed author Peter Kageyama has…